yuppie wrote:Madrid will still go through from this group. A hicup now means nothing in the coming months.

They can soon write of la liga and only concentrate on the champions league...

La liga has declined somewhat this year it seems, where 2-3 years ago you had a strong emergence of teams in the top half (Villareal, A.Madrid, Sevilla) none of these teams look any cop at the moment. The two Madrid teams have significantly gone down hill it seems

Real have sold too much of their squad in recent years, like Barca when they stopped being the European dominator, they are operating on a tight unit and trying to bring some young players in, but thats costing them. A.Madrid have bought players and spent £200 odd million in recent years, but they havent spent at all wisely. None of that money seems to have had a positive effect, but Costa going back in January could change that.

Other spanish teams have seen their market on decent priced talent squeezed. No one wants to play for Villareal or the like now. The old team that can compete is Valencia, who are being bankrolled and have suddenly shot up the table after a few years being rubbish. Those players these teams used to bring in now go to Watford or Brighton, they earn more.